Alexandria High School ends prayers over PA system

ALEXANDRIA, Ala. -- The Christian influence at Alexandria High School is
visible, but as of this week it's a little less overt.

There, brightly colored flyers printed with Bible verses hang on the walls,
weekly Bible studies are held before class begins and, until recently, prayers
were spoken over the school's intercom system. But that regular practice stopped
this week when a student questioned the legality of the practice.

"Every day in the morning we would have student-led prayer over the PA system
and I looked this up. It's illegal," the student said. "It wasn't just me; there
were a bunch of other students who wanted it stopped."

He said he demanded it stop in a voicemail sent to Superintendent Judy
Stiefel. He also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union by e-mail and by
hand-written letter to complain about the issue.

The student requested he not be named in this story because he expected his
classmates would not react well to his actions.

In response to the complaint Stiefel sent out an e-mail earlier this week to
every school in the system. She said Wednesday the e-mail "reminded them of the
law." The morning prayers at Alexandria High stopped Tuesday.

Alexandria Principal Ronald Chambless declined to comment for this story.

Supreme Court decisions have set precedents prohibiting school-sponsored
religious activity, based on the First Amendment, which states Congress may make
no law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof."

"The U.S. Supreme Court has made it pretty clear that school officials cannot
sponsor prayers," said Bryan Fair, a University of Alabama law professor. "They
control the PA system; the student doesn't control the PA system. That is going
to be considered government speech rather than private speech."

However, the law does not prohibit all prayer. Private prayer and voluntary
student prayer is permissible by the law and is allowed at Calhoun County
Schools, according to school board attorney Robin Andrews.

"Each student is free to pray individually or with other students during
non-instructional time, during lunch, before or after school; even during class,
providing it's private and doesn't interfere with instruction," Andrews
said.

Allison Neal, legal director of the Alabama chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union, said these issues are common in the state and that they usually
are resolved without taking any legal action. Neal said that her group normally
handles such complaints by talking with school superintendents, but Stiefel said
Wednesday the ACLU had not contacted her about the issue.

"I have only had one student to comment about this," Stiefel said. "It has
not been a major problem."

The student said he was motivated to take action because he didn't think it
was fair for the student body, which he described as overwhelmingly
"fundamentally Christian" to subject all students to Christian prayers and Bible
verses.

"What bothered me about it is that it's illegal and I don't want the school
breaking the law like that," the student said. "I want to stand up for fairness.
I'm a person that embraces all religion and I love everyone."

(This report was written by Laura Johnson of The Anniston Star and distributed via The Associated Press.)